National Republican., 1887-03-12
Nlrpinin Irnn Orns.

The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN has long
been claiming that Virginia offered the
very best field for the investment Of capital
In all kinds Of enterprises, farms Of all
kinds and mines in gold, copper, iron,
limestone, and coal, and the latest revela-
tions on the subject are fully iustifying
this claim. The Plttsburg Commercial
Gazette says:
new Bessemer ore field has been dlscov-
cred, and 1t bids fair to rival the lake regions.
AT present the Bessemer ore which comes into
this city costs about 81 per ton. From the new
regions II can be placed in the Pittsburg mar.
ket for about 81 per ton. The property Is situ-
atod on the line Of the Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad in West Virginia, about eight miles
north Of White Sulphur Springs.
This land has been brought to the attention
of Carnegies during the present week. This
firm has the option on the land, and will nd
their mining engineers down there within
few days to examine into the claims made for
the property. The owners say that careful,
assays of the ore show 621s per cent. of me-
tallic iron. This is from to 7 per cent. lower
than the Bessemer ore from the lake region
but is sufficiently pure tor all needrul PURPOSES.
From what can be learned II is more than pr1b.
able the Carnegies will either purchase or lease
theprorerty.
The gentleman who was here engineering
the transactions is one OF the widest known
furnace men of Virginia. He has been super.
intendent Of one OF the largest plants Ia the
New river country in West Virginia, and is
thoroughly acquainted with the ground. The
rumor of such transaction has created con-
siderable excitement among the manufacturers m
OF the city.
The NATIoyAL REPUBLICAN is fully salts
fed that the statements as to this ore field
are true, and that others similar In char
acter can befound in the valley between the
Massanutton and North mountain ranges.
Northern capital need not seek in Georgia
and Alabama, the foot hills Of the Appala
chan chain, for valuable iron ores, for they
exist in 1t through all its extent, aud no.
where in more valuable deposits than
in Virginia, near the sea coast and
with exceptional railroad facilities.
A report Of tests Of the ores and cokes
Of Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama has
just been made in Philadelphia, and in each
instance the prize was awarded to the pro.
duct OF Virginia. The ores of that state
showed greater percentage of metallic
iron and the cokes were higher in fixed
carbon. The Virginia ores being almost
free Of phosphorus, ranked as Bessemer
ores, thus proving them Of much greater
value than those from the other states.
Aud 1t must be remembered In this con-
noction that the Virginia ores tested were
not the best in the state, nor taken from
the fields o. which we are speaking, where
the percentage of phosphorus is still less
and that Of metallic iron much greater.
The cost of transporting the Bessemer
ores from northern Michigan, the only place
where they have heretofore been found in
any great quantity, to the steel works in
Pennsylvania Is So per ton, while the ores
from Virginia can be placed at these
furnaces for less than half that sum, thus
materially reducing the cost of steel.
But there is no necessity Of transporting
the Virginia ores. Wherever they are
found, limestone and coking coal are also
| found, so that the steel furnace can he
| placed alongside Of the ore bed, leaving
only the finished product to <bear the cost
of transportation.
Virginia only needs northern capital and
northern energy to make her one OF the
foremost states Of the Union.